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Wednesday, July 17, 2013

The Game of Risk: Cold War Part 3

“Communism
would subject an individual to arrest without lawful cause. Punishment without trial,
and forced labor as a chattel of the state. It decides what information he
shall receive, what he shall produce, what leaders he shall follow, and what
thoughts he shall think…The differences between Communism and Democracy do not
concern America alone…We have sought no territory.” -Harry
Truman, Inaugural Address.

New Lisbon, WI – The United States had vowed to fight
Communism anywhere and everywhere it raised its head, be it at the state
department, or in some Middle Eastern Country. Meanwhile the Russians tried to
spread Communism to the world.

In 1947 and 48 Romania and then Czechoslovakia fell to
Communism. The West would not watch the same thing happen in Korea. When in in
1950 the North Korean army swept across the 38th parallel, capturing
Seoul, the Southern capitol, within three days, the UN Security Council
sanctioned UN forces advancing on the Koreans. They were quickly thrown back
across the line again.

The game began to span the world. Before it was over it would
spread from Latin America to the Orient. The doctrine was that it was better
for Western troops to hold a piece of land then for it to be held by the
Communists.

Meanwhile in Russia Stalin was growing old and restive. He
accused nine doctors, five of them Jewish, of assassinating him. He began to
fear doctors in general. And he began to grow sicker. His heavy smoking was
taking a toll at last.

On March 1st, 1953, Stalin arrived at his quarters
after an all-night dinner and movie. With him were Georgy Malenkov, Nikolai Bulganin and Nikita Khrushchev. All of
them would one day be the premier of Russia themselves.

Stalin did not get up at dawn. The guards however, were
terrified of the consequences of waking him, and let him be. But, at 10 PM, Peter Lozgachev decided he needed to check the premier.
He entered the room and found Stalin on his back, in pajamas, unconscious. He
had been there all day. Peter immediately called the doctors, who took their
time, and arrived the next morning.

Stalin died four days later.

In Russia, thousands filed past
his mausoleum. For days afterwards, the street in front of where his body had lain
in state was littered with trash and lady’s handbags, blown about by the wind.

The Russian radio had always
before ignored bad news and only given good news, reporting state edited media.
But now it was announced that Stalin was dead. The people were mortified, what
would they do now they wondered. Their way of life was gone, their commander.
The man who had led them to victory had died.

A new premier was chosen, Georgy
Malenkov, one of the men who had come with Stalin that night from the theatre.
It was early Spring, 1953, the Cold War was not over, it was only just
beginning. And it was about to go out of this world.